System and method for automated communications session routing in a communications handling system

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for handling a telecommunications session in real-time are provided, where the telecommunications session is initiated by a calling device and intended for a receiving network. One system comprises a module, in communication with a communications network associated with the telecommunications session, configured for intercepting the telecommunications session prior to reaching the receiving network, obtaining address information associated with the calling device, determining a credit-related score for the telecommunications session based on the address information, identifying an appropriate unit of the receiving network based on the credit-related score, and routing the telecommunications session to the appropriate unit. The system also includes a memory for storing the module and a processor in communication with the memory to execute the module.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/141,412 filed on Apr. 28, 2016, which issues as U.S. Pat. No.10,482,531 on Nov. 19, 2019, and claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/154,033 filed on Apr. 28, 2015, the entirecontents of each being incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to systems and methods for automated routing andtreatment of communications sessions, such as telephone calls, based oncriteria associated with the communications sessions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

“Phone lead” is a marketing term used to define a business opportunity(or “lead”) that comes in the form of an inbound phone call from apotential customer or consumer. Studies show that inbound calls are themost valuable type of lead because they tend to convert to revenue morefrequently than, for example, web leads as well as other types of leads.This may be because phone leads tend to come from people who are furtheralong in the decision-making process and therefore, may need only a fewquestions answered before making a purchasing decision. For such calls,a sale may be best secured by connecting the caller directly to a salesrepresentative or agent.

However, not all calls are placed with the same purpose. In fact, mostinbound calls are non-sales calls, such as, for example, misdials oraccidental calls, and simple inquiries for store hours, location(s),directions, and other basic information. Also, many inbound calls arefrom existing customers who are seeking to, for example, review accountinformation, make a payment over the phone, address an issue with theaccount, or complete other routine tasks. Many businesses, small andlarge, have found that live receptionists or customer agents are not acost-effective solution for handling brief, non-sales calls.

One existing solution for filtering or qualifying incoming calls basedon sales potential is a “virtual receptionist” or interactive voiceresponse (IVR) system that enables callers to interact with an automatedmenu using a telephone keypad and/or voice recognition. Based on theinputs received, such systems can guide callers, for example, toself-service options (e.g., for assistance with business hours oraccount balance inquiries) or to an agent, department, or voicemail boxthat is appropriate for the caller's inquiry. In some cases, the latteris determined based on the caller's answers to one or more automatedquestions that are designed to establish information about the caller,such as, for example, the caller's financial situation, the type ofproducts being considered, how serious the caller is about making apurchase, and/or how far along the caller is in the decision-makingprocess (e.g., is the caller still researching, does the caller have apre-approved loan, what is the caller's budget, etc.).

Thus, existing solutions depend heavily on the caller's inputs toqualify and/or re-route incoming calls. This can lead to erroneousresults, particularly if, for example, there are errors in voicerecognition, the caller has difficulty understanding the menu options,and/or the caller makes an accidental selection. Further, many callers,especially those with specific questions about a potential purchase orsale, do not appreciate the time or steps required to be qualified bythe virtual receptionist system before reaching a live customer agent.In some cases, the system may direct the caller to a generallyappropriate group, which may re-direct the caller to one or more agentsand/or narrower groups before finally reaching an appropriate salesrepresentative.

These and other drawbacks to existing call handling systems have ledsome marketers to implement a call scoring process that analyzes andmeasures the quality of a call after the fact and uses the findings toimprove or optimize future marketing techniques. Calls are scored basedon, for example, keyword spotting, call duration, agent performance,customer satisfaction, and/or whether the call converted to sales. Assuch, the findings of the post-call scoring process can help businessesdetermine how to obtain more high quality phone leads and close moredeals in the future. However, the existing call scoring process cannotimpact or improve a caller's experience in real-time, as the scoringtechniques require a complete set of call data (e.g., from start tofinish of a call) to make recommendations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is intended to solve the above-noted problems by providingsystems and methods for automatically routing a communications session,in real-time, based on aggregated data associated with thecommunications session. The systems and methods are designed to, amongother things: (1) intercept a communications session, such as atelephone call, placed by a calling device to a receiving network; (2)obtain address information that is associated with an origination phonenumber (or NPA-NXX) of the communications session; (3) retrieveaggregated credit data associated with the address information; and (4)based on the aggregated credit data, route the communications session toan appropriate unit of the receiving network.

For example, embodiments include a system for handling atelecommunications session in real-time, the telecommunications sessionbeing initiated by a calling device and intended for a receivingnetwork. The system comprises a module, in communication with acommunications network associated with the telecommunications session,configured for intercepting the telecommunications session prior toreaching the receiving network, obtaining address information associatedwith the calling device, determining a credit-related score for thetelecommunications session based on the address information, identifyingan appropriate unit of the receiving network based on the credit-relatedscore, and routing the telecommunications session to the appropriateunit. The system also includes a memory for storing the module and aprocessor in communication with the memory to execute the module.

Another example embodiment includes a computer-implemented method forhandling an incoming call, in real-time, the call being placed by acaller to an end-user. The method comprises intercepting the incomingcall prior to the call reaching the end user; obtaining, from an addressinformation database, address information associated with an originationphone number for the incoming call; retrieving, from a creditinformation database, aggregated credit data that is associated with theaddress information; determining a caller profile for the incoming callbased on the aggregated credit data; identifying an appropriatecall-answering unit of the end user based on the caller profile; androuting the incoming call to the appropriate call-answering unit.

Another example embodiment includes a system for handling an incomingcall placed by a caller to an end user. The system includes a callhandling module for intercepting the incoming call prior to the callreaching the end user and determining an aggregated credit score for theincoming call that qualifies the call for at least one of a plurality ofcall-answering units associated with the end user. The system alsoincludes an address providing module for obtaining address informationthat is associated with an origination phone number of the incomingcall, wherein the call handling module determines the aggregated creditscore based on the address information, and based on said score, routesthe incoming call to the at least one of the plurality of call-answeringunits. The system further includes at least one memory for storing thecall handling module and the address providing module and at least oneprocessor in communication with the at least one memory to execute thecall handling module and the address providing module.

These and other embodiments, and various permutations and aspects, willbecome apparent and be more fully understood from the following detaileddescription and accompanying drawings, which set forth illustrativeembodiments that are indicative of the various ways in which theprinciples of the invention may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system for automatedcall scoring and handling based on aggregated credit data associatedwith the phone number of a caller in accordance with embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the system ofFIG. 1 in accordance with embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the callhandler of FIG. 1 in accordance with embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of one form of a computer or server of FIG. 1,having a memory element with a computer readable medium for implementingthe example operations of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 in accordance withembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The description that follows describes, illustrates, and exemplifies oneor more particular embodiments of the invention in accordance with itsprinciples. This description is not provided to limit the invention tothe embodiments described herein, but rather to explain and teach theprinciples of the invention in such a way to enable one of ordinaryskill in the art to understand these principles and, with thatunderstanding, be able to apply them to practice not only theembodiments described herein, but also other embodiments that may cometo mind in accordance with these principles. The scope of the inventionis intended to cover all such embodiments that may fall within the scopeof the appended claims, either literally or under the doctrine ofequivalents.

It should be noted that in the description and drawings, like orsubstantially similar elements may be labeled with the same referencenumerals. However, sometimes these elements may be labeled withdiffering numbers, such as, for example, in cases where such labelingfacilitates a more clear description. Additionally, the drawings setforth herein are not necessarily drawn to scale, and in some instancesproportions may have been exaggerated to more clearly depict certainfeatures. Such labeling and drawing practices do not necessarilyimplicate an underlying substantive purpose. As stated above, thespecification is intended to be taken as a whole and interpreted inaccordance with the principles of the invention as taught herein andunderstood to one of ordinary skill in the art.

With respect to the exemplary systems, components and architecturedescribed and illustrated herein, it should also be understood that theembodiments may be embodied by, or employed in, numerous configurationsand components, including one or more systems, hardware, software, orfirmware configurations or components, or any combination thereof, asunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, while thedrawings illustrate exemplary systems including components for one ormore of the embodiments contemplated herein, it should be understoodthat with respect to each embodiment, one or more components may not bepresent or necessary in the system.

It should also be noted that the disclosures made in this specificationare in accordance with the principles of the embodiment(s), which areintended to be disclosed or interpreted to their broadest extent underthe patent laws, and while such disclosure may describe or otherwisecover subject matter that may be regulated by other existing laws orregulations, including, without limitation, the Fair Credit ReportingAct (FCRA), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), or the TelephoneConsumer Protection Act (TCPA), nothing in this disclosure is intendedto suggest or imply noncompliance with any such law or regulation by theassignee.

FIG. 1 illustrates a call handling system 100 for real-time scoring androuting of a phone lead, incoming call, or other telecommunicationssession based on aggregated credit data associated with amicro-geography tied to the phone number of a caller 102, in accordancewith one or more embodiments. The system 100 includes a call handler 104that can be configured to, among other things, (1) intercept, inreal-time, calls placed by the caller 102 to an end user 106 of thesystem 100, or more specifically, a receiving network of the end user106, (2) automatically score each call based on aggregated credit dataassociated with the micro-geography tied to the phone number from whichthe call originates (also referred to herein as “origination phonenumber”), and (3) based on the resulting score, route each call to anappropriate call-answering group or unit 108 associated with the enduser 106 and/or the receiving network of the end user 106

As used herein, the term “micro-geography” refers to a localizedgeographical area that is defined by at least one type of addressinformation and is at least one address level short of a full address.As will be appreciated, in the United States, a postal address typicallyincludes at least city, state, zip code, and country level information,as well as an additional address level comprising either a P.O. Boxnumber or a house/building/street number and street name. In some cases,the postal address also includes a further address level comprising aunit or apartment number. In addition to the contents of a typicalpostal address, the term “address information” can include other typesor levels of geographical information, including, for example, a ZIP+2code (e.g., the zip code plus two geography-specific digits), a ZIP+4code (e.g., the zip code plus two geography-specific digits), a cityblock, a housing subdivision, etc. To provide a few non-limitingexamples, in embodiments, the micro-geography associated with a givenphone number may be the geographical area defined by (i) the zip code,ZIP+2, or ZIP+4 code included in address information associated with thephone number, (ii) the apartment building located at the house numberincluded in the address information associated with the phone number, or(iii) the city block that includes the postal address associated withthe phone number.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the system 100 may further include a creditreporting agency 110 or other entity that collects credit informationand corresponding address information for a plurality of individuals,including the caller 102. For each address provided by the creditreporting agency 110, aggregated credit data can be calculated and/orderived by aggregating the credit information of all individualsassociated with a micro-geography that includes the given address. Thesystem 100 also includes an address provider 112 that can perform anaddress look-up service based on the phone number of the caller 102.Accordingly, the system 100 provides improved call routing techniquesthat include scoring incoming calls, in real-time, using data that canbe automatically obtained based on the phone number associated with thecall, thereby requiring minimal inputs from the caller 102 to qualifythe call.

Various components of the system 100 may be implemented using softwareexecutable by one or more servers or computers, such as a computingdevice 400 with a processor 402 and a memory 404 as shown in FIG. 4,which is described in more detail below. For example, an embodiment of aprocess 200 for real-time scoring and routing of an incoming call basedon aggregated credit data associated with the address tied to anorigination phone number of the caller is shown in FIG. 2, in accordancewith one or more principles of the invention. The process 200 may beimplemented using the system 100, or more specifically, throughinteractions between various components of the system 100 that arefacilitated by software executing on one or more computer processors(not shown) associated with said components. In the followingparagraphs, the process 200 will be described in conjunction with adescription of the various components of the system 100.

In FIG. 2, the process 200 may begin at step 202 with the caller 102placing a call to, or otherwise attempting to communicate with, the enduser 106. In embodiments, the caller 102 may be an existing customer ofthe end user 106, a new customer of the end user 106, a potential orprospective customer of the end user 106, a curious consumer, anaccidental dialer, a company or group (e.g., in the case of a“robocall”), or any other entity that places a call to the end user 106.Also in embodiments, the end user 106 can be any type of business orenterprise system that offers to consumers, for sale or consumption, oneor more products including goods, services, and/or financial orinsurance products. In some cases, at least one of the products may onlybe offered to consumers that meet one or more qualifications associatedwith the product, such as, for example, a predetermined marketingprofile. In such cases, the score determined by the call handler 104 maybe used to determine whether the qualification(s) for a specific productare met. Example end users 106 can include, for example, a financialinstitution (e.g., bank, credit union, etc.), a credit card company, acable company, a telephone or mobile carrier, an insurance company, acall center, or any other business that can benefit from qualifyingphone leads based on the aggregated credit data associated with thecaller's phone number.

Referring back to FIG. 1, calls may be placed by the caller 102 to theend user 106 using any type of communications device 114 (also referredto herein as a “calling device”), such as, for example, a landlinetelephone 114 a for placing calls over a telecommunications network, acellular phone or voice-enabled mobile device 114 b for placing callsover a cellular network, or a computing device 114 c for placing callsover a data network (e.g., via a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)connection). As also shown in FIG. 1, the system 100 further includes acommunications network 116, which can include one or more separatenetworks, such as, for example, the telecommunications network (e.g.,public switch telephone network (PSTN), etc.), the cellular network(e.g., mobile communications network), the data network (e.g., theInternet), or any other wired or wireless communications network. Inembodiments, the call handler 104 communicates with the address provider112, the credit reporting agency 110, and/or the end user 106 using thecommunications network 116 in order to carry out various aspects of theprocess 200.

At step 204 in FIG. 2, the call handler 104 intercepts the call placedby the caller 102 to the end user 106, or a receiving network thereof,via the communications network 116, so that the call handler 104 canmake a real-time routing decision before the call reaches the end user106. Upon making a routing decision, the call handler 104 can route theincoming call to the appropriate group or unit 108 associated with theend user 106 using at least one of the communications network 116, alocal telephone exchange (e.g., private branch exchange (PBX), callcenter, etc.), or a local data network (e.g., an enterprise privatenetwork, a corporate computer network, a local area network (LAN), etc.)of the end user 106. According to embodiments, the call handler 104 canbe implemented as hardware (e.g., terminals, switches, phone lines,etc.) and/or software (e.g., a routing strategy).

In some embodiments, the call handler 104 can be incorporated into alocal exchange carrier (LEC) or wireless carrier that handles theincoming call. In other embodiments, the call handler 104 can beincorporated into an enterprise call center or other third-party entitythat handles incoming calls on behalf of the end user 106. For example,the call handler 104 may be incorporated into, or form a part of, anautomatic call distributor (ACD) that distributes or routes incomingcalls to a specific group of terminals or agents based on customer need,type, agent skill set, etc. In still other embodiments, the call handler104 can be included in, or hosted by, the end user 106. For example, thecall handler 104 may be incorporated into a local call routing system orlocal call center associated with the end user 106 and may use theprivate branch exchange of the end user 106 to route calls received fromthe communications network 116 to the various units 108 of the end user106. In such cases, the credit reporting agency 110 may stillcommunicate with the call handler 104 via the communications network 116to provide and/or update the credit information stored in the creditinformation database 118 of the call handler 104. Also in suchembodiments, the address provider 112 may still communicate with thecall handler 104 via the communications network 116 to provide addressinformation for a given phone number.

In a preferred embodiment, the call handler 104 interacts with theaddress provider 112 via the communication network 116 to obtain addressinformation that is associated with the origination phone number of thecaller 102. In some cases, the address provider 112 may be provided by,or incorporated into, the local exchange carrier or wireless carriernetwork associated with the incoming call. In other embodiments, theaddress provider 112 can be incorporated into the call handler 104 andcan communicate therewith over a local communications network.

In either case, as shown in FIG. 1, the address provider 112 hostsand/or stores an address information database 118 that includes addressinformation for a plurality of persons, businesses, and/or otherentities. The address information for each entity may include ahouse/building/street number, direction, street name, unit number,city/town, state, zip code, ZIP+2, ZIP+4, and/or other geographicalinformation associated with the entity. In some embodiments, the addressinformation for each entity only includes information pertaining to theone or more of micro-geographies encompassing the address of the entity.In a preferred embodiment, within the address information database 118,each entity's address information (or preselected micro-geography) maybe linked to, or associated with, one or more phone numbers (including,e.g., NPA-NXX) for that address and/or entity. In some embodiments, theaddress provider 112 may include or utilize a home location register(HLR) and/or data exchanged over a signaling system number 7 (SS7)network to obtain the address information associated with an incomingmobile or cellular call.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the address provider 112 further includes amatching engine 120 that is in communication with the addressinformation database 118 and is configured to match a received phonenumber to corresponding address information stored in the addressinformation database 118. Thus, using the matching engine 120 and theaddress information database 118, the address provider 112 can obtain,or look-up, address information for any caller 102 calling from a phonenumber included in the address information database 118.

In other embodiments, instead of, or in addition to, a phone number,other numbers or indicia associated with the communications device 114(e.g., mobile phone) or the caller 102 may be used to obtain ordetermine an address associated with the caller 102, including, forexample, a media access control (MAC) address or Internet Protocol (IP)address associated with the computing device 114 c, a mobile directorynumber, subscriber or local routing number (LRN), mobile identificationnumber (MIN), and/or location/presence information associated with themobile communications device 114 b, or other device addresses, numbers,or information.

Referring back to FIG. 2, upon intercepting the call at step 204, thecall handler 104 determines the origination phone number associated withthe incoming call at step 206 of the process 200. In a preferredembodiment, the call handler 104 determines a phone number associatedwith an incoming call using an automatic number identification (“ANI”)service, or other similar service for automatically determining theorigination telephone number of an incoming call (a.k.a. a reverselookup service). In some embodiments, the call handler 104 may directlyprovide the ANI service for determining the origination phone number(e.g., where the call handler 104 is incorporated into the LEC orwireless carrier). In other embodiments, the call handler 104 mayrequest and/or receive ANI information for a given incoming call from athird-party entity associated with the communications network 116 (e.g.,local exchange carrier, wireless carrier, etc.). Alternatively, the ANIservice may be provided by the address provider 112, in which case theaddress provider 112 performs the step 206. In still other embodiments,the origination phone number may be provided to the call handler 104through a caller identification (CID) service or the like.

In embodiments, once the origination phone number is determined at step206, the call handler 104 provides the number to the address provider112 to obtain corresponding address information. In particular, at step208, the matching engine 120 of the address provider 112 compares theorigination phone number to address information stored in the addressdatabase 118. At step 210, the matching engine 120 generates an addressresult based on the comparison from step 208, and the address provider112 sends this result to the call handler 104. If the matching engine120 finds that the address database 118 includes address information forthe origination phone number, the address result includes thecorresponding address information. If the matching engine 120 does notfind address information for the origination phone number in the addressdatabase 118, the address result includes an indication that addressinformation is not available in the address database 118.

At step 212, the call handler 104 analyzes the received address resultto determine whether address information has been found. If the addressresult includes address information, the process 200 continues to step214 to score the incoming call, and ultimately route the call to anappropriate business unit 108 of the end user 106, as described in moredetail herein. If the address result does not include addressinformation, the process 200 continues to step 216, where the incomingcall is routed to a default unit 108 d, shown in FIG. 1.

Studies have shown that the origination number of most incoming callscan be identified through the ANI service. Thus, for most incomingcalls, address information may be obtained at step 208 and basedthereon, the process 200 can continue to step 214 and beyond to scoreand route the calls accordingly, as described in more detail herein. Forthe remaining incoming calls, since the origination phone numbers cannotbe determined, corresponding address information may not be ascertained.Thus, at step 216, these unmatched calls may be routed to the defaultunit 108 d of the end user 106, which then handles the call, at step218, according to standard call processing procedures. For example,routing the call to the default unit 108 d may place the call into ageneral call-answering queue, send the call to a designated voicemailbox, or forward the call to an automated receptionist line.

In a preferred embodiment, referring back to step 210, the addressprovider 112 may be configured to return only the zip, ZIP+2, or ZIP+4code included in the address information for the origination phonenumber. As used herein, the terms “ZIP+2 code” and “ZIP+4 code” includethe basic five-digit zip code for a given address along with anadditional two- or four-digit code, respectively, that identifies ageographic segment within the delivery area represented by thefive-digit zip code. For example, the additional two- or four-digit codecan pinpoint a city block, a group of apartments, an individualhigh-volume receiver of mail, a post office box, or any other deliverypoint, as needed to provide efficient mail sorting and delivery. Byincluding only the zip, ZIP+2, or ZIP+4 code in the address resultreturned to the call handler 104, the system 100 maintainsdepersonalization of the caller 102's information and adheres torelevant regulatory requirements. Also, by limiting the addressinformation to a predefined micro-geography, the system 100 can reducethe real-time processing delay associated with scoring incoming callsbefore routing the calls to an appropriate end user 106, in accordancewith the principles and techniques described herein.

According to embodiments, the address information received from theaddress provider 112 can be used to locate corresponding aggregatedcredit information for the caller 102, or more specifically, aggregatedcredit data associated with a micro-geography tied to the caller 102. Asshown in FIG. 1, the call handler 104 hosts or stores an aggregatedcredit information database 122 that stores depersonalized, summarylevel credit information for the owners, residents, and/or otherindividuals associated with each of a plurality of micro-geographies.Further, the call handler 104 includes a scoring engine 124 that usesthe received address information to retrieve corresponding aggregatedcredit information from the aggregated credit information database 122.

Generally speaking, each individual associated with an address has aplurality of individual credit-related attributes that is collected,stored, and/or provided by the credit reporting agency 110, or othersimilar entity. To comply with federal regulations regarding how suchcredit-related data can be used, the individual attributes associatedwith a given address, or other geographical location, can bedepersonalized and combined to generate aggregated credit datacomprising a set of aggregated credit-related attributes for acorresponding micro-geography or other localized geographical area. Thedepersonalization process ensures that the aggregated credit data willnot include identifying information of the individuals residing at thegiven address, in compliance with the Federal Credit Reporting Act(FCRA). In a preferred embodiment, the credit information stored in thecredit information database 122 includes credit-related data aggregatedaccording to ZIP+4 codes. For example, the individual credit-relatedattributes for all individuals living at, or associated with, the ZIP+4code included in the caller 102's address information may be aggregatedto create a set of aggregated credit-related attributes for themicro-geography defined by that ZIP+4 code. Other forms of aggregationmay be utilized in accordance with the principles described herein,including, for example, based on zip code, neighborhood, sub-division,street block, or any other geographical boundary.

More specifically, in embodiments, the aggregated credit data for eachaddress stored in the aggregated credit information database 122 mayinclude one or more aggregated credit-related attributes, eachaggregated attribute representing a collection of individualcredit-related attributes for the individuals associated with thataddress. For each individual, the individual credit-related attributesmay include a credit score of the individual, prior insurance shoppingby the individual, the length of time the individual has resided attheir current address, a number, type, and standing of credit accountscurrently owned by the individual (e.g., revolving credit account), anumber of authorized user trade lines associated with each creditaccount, a number of overdue credit lines, a number, type, and standingof credit accounts previously own by the individual (e.g., closedaccounts), an age of the individual, lending data associated with theindividual (e.g., for past and present loans), a late payment status foreach credit, loan, or other account by category, etc.

In embodiments, the individual's credit score may be calculated and/orderived from the other credit-related attributes associated with thatindividual, and may be a numerical approximation of the overall creditor insurance-related risk associated with the individual. In some cases,the individual's credit score is calculated using a formula determinedby the credit reporting agency 110 or other entity that collects and/orprovides the individual credit-related attributes to the call handler104. In other cases, the end user 106 may provide the call handler 104with an aggregated credit data roster and the call handler 104 maydevelop a marketing model or segmentation system internally inaccordance with said roster. In still other cases, the end user 106 mayprovide a proprietary formula that defines how the scoring engine 124calculates the individual credit scores and/or which credit-relatedattributes are considered or aggregated to develop the score.

In a preferred embodiment, the aggregated credit-related attributes maybe periodically (e.g., quarterly, monthly, weekly, etc.) calculatedbased on the latest credit-related attributes for the plurality ofindividuals associated with a given micro-geography and stored in theaggregated credit information database 122 until the next period. Inother embodiments, the aggregated credit-related attributes for theindividuals associated with a given micro-geography can be calculated ona real-time basis, i.e., once a call has been received.

When generating the aggregated credit data, the individualcredit-related attributes may be grouped together by category in orderto create the aggregated attribute. How each set of attributes isaggregated can depend, at least in part, on the type of data included inthe attribute. For example, if there are ten people living at amicro-geography, such as a zip code, the aggregated credit score forthat area may be an average of the ten people's individual creditscores, while the aggregated number of accounts may be a total number ofaccounts owned by the ten people. In some embodiments, aggregationcalculation and/or derivation may further depend on a set of businessrules provided by the end user 106 and/or the call handler 104. In apreferred embodiment, the micro-geography used to generate theaggregated credit data will never be at a geographic or address levellower than the address information provided to the call handler 104 bythe address provider 112.

In some embodiments, the aggregated credit data may include, for exampleand without limitation, a categorization and count of the individualsresiding at a zip code, a ZIP+4, or other predetermined geographicallocation, average and median credit scores of those individuals,categorization and counts of individuals at different risk levels,calculation of the average age of the individuals, categorization andcounts of individuals by length of time residing at the micro-geography,and/or other types of aggregated credit-related attributes. Thedifferent risk levels for the categorization and counts of theindividuals may include several risk levels that are based on the creditscores of the individuals. For example, the risk levels may be based onvarious predefined ranges of credit scores. Similarly, the different agelevels for the categorization and counts of the individuals may includeseveral age levels that are based on the ages of the individuals. Forexample, the age levels may each be predefined by a particular agerange.

Likewise, the categorization of individuals by length of time resided atthe address may include several retention levels that are based on theresidence duration of the individuals at the address. For example, theretention levels may each be predefined by a different duration, e.g.,less than 12 months, 12 months or greater, 24 months or greater, and 36months or greater. Such retention data may be helpful in measuring thestability of a given address, or more specifically, the individualsresiding therein. This stability information can indicate the risk levelof the individuals residing at that location. For example, a highstability may indicate individuals that are more responsible and havelower loss potential, while a lower stability may indicate individualsthat are transient and have a higher loss potential.

In embodiments, the aggregated credit information database 122 receivespre-aggregated credit-related attributes for a plurality ofpredetermined locations or addresses from the credit reporting agency110 or other entity that collects and stores the credit-relatedattributes of individuals. For example, the credit reporting agency 110may perform the calculation and/or derivation of the aggregated creditattributes prior to sending the aggregated credit data to the aggregatedcredit information database 122 for storage therein. In such cases, thedatabase 122 does not contain individual credit information. Uponreceiving address information (e.g., ZIP+4 code) from the addressprovider 112, the scoring engine 124 may compare the received address toaddress information stored in the aggregated credit information database122, and if a match is made, retrieve the aggregated credit attributesthat are associated with the matching address information from theaggregated credit information database 122.

In other embodiments, the database 122 may store individualcredit-related attributes, and the scoring engine 124 may calculateand/or derive the aggregated credit attributes for a given address(e.g., ZIP+4 code). For example, if the received address informationincludes the ZIP+4 code associated with the incoming call, the scoringengine 124 may access the database 122 to identify the individuals thatare associated with or reside at the received ZIP+4 code, retrieve theindividual credit-related attributes for the identified individuals fromthe database 122, and then aggregate the retrieved individualcredit-related attributes to create aggregated credit data for the ZIP+4code associated with the incoming call. The aggregated credit data maythen be used by the call handler 104 to score and route the call.

Referring back to FIG. 2, at step 214, the call handler 104 determines acaller profile, or score, for the incoming call based on aggregatedcredit information associated with the address information received fromthe address provider 112. In some embodiments, based on thecorresponding aggregated credit data, the scoring engine 124 cangenerate the caller profile (also referred to as a risk profile, acredit profile, or marketing profile) or other credit-related score forqualifying the incoming call. For example, the scoring engine 124 may beconfigured to develop models or set criteria for a given micro-geographyto determine which attributes to use for generating the caller profile.In embodiments, the composition and/or derivation of the caller profilecan be defined by the call handler 104, the end user 106, or the creditreporting agency 110, and can be based on any combination of theaggregated credit-related attributes, including, for example, risklevels, credit scores, insurance shopping, age, stability information,credit card account information, bankruptcy information, lending data,etc. In other embodiments, the caller profiles are previously generatedbased on information provided by the credit reporting agency 110, orother entity (e.g., prior to receiving the call) and provided to thecall handler 104 for storage in the aggregated credit informationdatabase 122 in association with the corresponding address information.In such embodiments, at step 214, the scoring engine 124 accesses theaggregated credit information database 122 to retrieve the predeterminedcaller profile that corresponds to the address information received atstep 212.

In some embodiments, the caller profile can be a calculated metric orscore, such as the predetermined aggregated credit score or a customizedscore that is generated based on a formula provided by the end user 106and/or the call handler 104. In other cases, the caller profile can be acollection of credit-related attributes that are selected based on amodel provided by, or a set of call qualifying needs of, the end user106. For example, if the end user 106 wants to target consumers lookingfor auto insurance, the caller profile may include aggregatedcredit-related attributes that are indicative of whether or not theconsumer will need that coverage (such as, e.g., residing in an areawith high shopping activity, having a lower credit score, etc.). Asanother example, if the end user 106 wants to target consumers whoresemble their best customers, the caller profile may include theattributes that resemble or define their best customers, such as, forexample, certain insurance scores, and any other credit-relatedattributes that may be indicative of a best customer. In some cases, thecaller profile may include a list of aggregated credit-relatedattributes and a value for each attribute that is specified by the enduser 106 based on the end user's target market (such as, for example andwithout limitation, no bankruptcies in the last seven years, less thanfive open credit accounts, less experienced credit users with lowderogatory history, less than four authorized user trade lines, nooverdue credit line, no late payments in the last two years, primaryaccount holders, etc.).

In some embodiments, the process 200 further includes determining oridentifying other or additional caller information associated with theincoming call. For example, the additional caller information mayinclude a geography associated with the origination phone number (e.g.,country, region, city, state, etc.), the day of the week and/or time ofday that the incoming call is received, a channel or digital advertisingmedium that drove the caller to place the incoming call (e.g., an onlinesearch engine, an online banner or other advertisement displayed on awebpage, a directly-dialed telephone call (for example, where the callerplaces the call after seeing the phone number online), etc.), and/or anoriginating advertisement, or advertising campaign, that prompted or ledto receipt of the incoming call. In embodiments, one or more pieces ofthe additional caller information may be used in conjunction with theaggregated credit data to determine the caller profile (e.g., at step214) and/or route the call to an appropriate unit 108 (e.g., at step220). For example, a combination of the aggregated credit data, thegeographical location of the caller, and an identity of the originatingadvertisement may be used to generate a marketing score for the incomingcall, and each unit 108 may be assigned a different range of marketingscores. As another example, the units 108 may be assigned to selectoriginating advertisements and/or geographical locations, and furtherassigned to specific aggregated credit scores. In such cases, theincoming call may be routed to an appropriate unit 108 based on allthree pieces of information: aggregated credit data, the geographicallocation of the caller, and an identity of the originatingadvertisement.

Referring again to FIG. 2, at step 220, based on the caller profileassigned to the incoming call, the scoring engine 124 can identify whichcall-answering unit 108 of the end user 106, or a receiving networkassociated therewith, is most appropriate for handling the incomingcall. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the end user 106 can include, or beassociated with, the plurality of units 108, which include one or morespecialized units 108 a, 108 b, 108 c and the general or default unit108 d. In embodiments, the plurality of units 108 can comprise one ormore business units, individual sales agents or groups of agents,customer service representatives or departments, receptionists, carriercall centers, telecommunications hardware, software executed by acommunications device, and/or any other entity or device that isassociated with answering calls on behalf of the end user 106 and makesup the receiving network of the end user 106. In some cases, the units108 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a private branchexchange (not shown) located at the end user 106's facilities, via alocal exchange carrier or wireless carrier (not shown) that uses thecommunications network 116 to facilitate said communication, and/or viaa call center that serves as a central point of contact for the end user106.

In some embodiments, each of the specialized units 108 a, 108 b, 108 cmay be a call-answering entity assigned to handle a specific category orgroup relevant to the end user 106's business. For example, the units108 a, 108 b, 108 c may be assigned to respective products (e.g.,high-interest loans vs. low-interest loans, auto insurance vs. propertyinsurance, etc.), business units (e.g., home mortgages, business loans,or private wealth management), risk profile types (e.g., high risk,medium risk, or low risk consumers), marketing profiles types (e.g.,best customers, emerging markets, etc.), account or customer types(e.g., existing, new, preferred, or potential accounts/customers,primary account holders vs. secondary account holders, etc.), call types(e.g., basic inquiries, account inquiries, or new customer inquiries),or any combination thereof. In other embodiments, the specialized units108 a, 108 b, 108 c may be different agents, or groups of agents, thatare distinguished based on sales performance, availability, location, orany other relevant factor.

The default unit 108 d can be a central or generalized business group ofthe end user 106, a main customer service center associated with the enduser 106, a central receptionist line or unit of the end user 106, anautomated or virtual receptionist line associated with the end user 106,or any other entity that can serve as a default point of contact, and insome cases, handle general or basic inquiries for the end user 106.

In some cases, the units 108 can comprise a combination of differenttypes of call-answering entities (such as, e.g., sales groups, businessunits, customer service representatives, telecommunications hardwareand/or software, call centers, and/or receptionist). For example, insome cases, the unit 108 a may be a group of customer servicerepresentatives for handling inquiries regarding existing accounts, theunit 108 b may be a sales group for handling prospective clients, theunit 108 c may be a business unit for handling new loan inquiries, andthe default unit 108 d may be a virtual receptionist line. In othercases, the units 108 can comprise the same type of entity. For example,all of the units 108 may be sales groups, with units 108 a, 108 b, 108 crespectively handling “high credit tier,” “medium credit tier,” and “lowcredit tier” consumers, and unit 108 d handling consumers whose callerprofile or marketing score cannot be determined. As will be appreciated,the exact number and type of units 108 can vary depending on thecomplexity of the end user's business, the number and type of units 108set up by the end user 106, a call handling capacity of the call handler104, and/or a number of other related reasons.

In embodiments, the call handler 104 and/or the end user 106 may definea model or a set of rules (also referred to as a “routing strategy”) foridentifying the appropriate unit 108 that is based on the business needsof the end user 106, the call handling capacities of the call handler104, a geography of the units 108, and/or other related criteria. Forexample, the rules may be configured to, based on the caller profile,(i) determine if the caller belongs to a target market group, and if so,route the caller to a specific marketing or product unit (e.g., to pitchcertain products to target consumers) or to certain salesrepresentatives (e.g., top performing agents), (ii) select the level ofcustomer service that is offered to the caller (e.g., live agent forpreferred customers, automated receptionist line for other customers,etc.), (iii) send the call to the marketing, product, or business groupthat will most effectively handle the call (e.g., private wealthmanagement versus general banking, etc.), (iv) determine whether thecaller is a desired customer and if so, offer a higher level of customerservice (e.g., live agent, top performing sales agent), (v) prioritizecalls based on whether the caller has a desired caller profile (e.g.,move the call ahead in call-answering queue), (vi) select the unit 108that is geographically appropriate for handling the incoming call (e.g.,based on region-specific licenses, approvals, or other qualificationsheld by the agent(s) at the unit 108), and/or (vii) send the call to theagent or unit 108 that specializes in the product mentioned in theoriginating advertisement that prompted the incoming call.

In embodiments, the rules may specify a composition of the callerprofiles by identifying one or more aggregated credit-related attributesthat should be included in each caller profile and the value of eachincluded attribute that is required to qualify for a given unit 108. Forexample, the rules may require each caller profile to include theaggregated credit score associated with the origination phone number ofthe incoming call and may assign a different range of aggregated creditscores, or marketing scores, to each of the specialized units 108 a, 108b, 108 c. Based on these rules, the call handler 104 can identify theappropriate units 108 a, 108 b, or 108 c by determining which of theunits has a range encompassing the aggregated credit score of theincoming call. More specifically, calls with an aggregated credit scorethat falls within a lower performing range (e.g., 400-500) may qualifyfor the unit 108 handling low performing consumers, calls with anaggregated credit score that falls within a high performing range (e.g.,700-800) may qualify for the unit 108 for handling high performingconsumers, and so on.

In some cases, the rules may be based on the makeup of the specializedunits 108 a, 108 b, 108 c. In particular, if the specialized units 108a, 108 b, and 108 c are assigned to respective products (e.g.,high-interest loans, low-interest loans, preferred auto insurance,standard auto insurance, etc.), the caller profile may be configured toinclude one or more aggregated credit-related attributes or models thatare related to at least one of the products, or tend to indicate whichof the products may be of more interest to the caller. Further, therules may assign a different qualifying value, or range of values, foreach of the attributes to each of the units 108 a, 108 b, 108 c. Forexample, a call may qualify for the non-standard insurance (e.g., unit108 a) if the caller profile includes a marketing score, built on theaggregated credit score associated with the caller, that falls into alower tier. As another non-limiting example, a call may qualify for alow interest loan unit (e.g., unit 108 b) if the caller profile includesa bankruptcy attribute with a value of zero, a number of revolvingcredit accounts attribute with a value of less than five, and/or anumber of overdue credit lines attribute with a value of zero. In somecases, the rules may be tailored to identify a targeted or preferred setof consumers and/or a less than desirable set of consumers, for example,by configuring the caller profile to include credit-related attributes,and/or values therefor, that are indicative of a highly preferredconsumer and/or a less preferred consumer.

In some cases, the call handler 104 may not have sufficient informationto make a determination at step 214 or an identification at step 220.For example, the aggregated credit information database 122 may notinclude sufficient aggregated credit data for the micro-geographyassociated with the incoming call to generate the caller profile. Inembodiments, when the caller profile is incomplete or nonexistent, thecall handler 104 may identify the default unit 108 d as the mostappropriate unit 108 for handling the call at step 220.

Once an appropriate one of the units 108 is identified at step 220, thecall handler 222 routes the call to the identified unit 108 at step 222,and at step 224, the identified unit 108 handles the call on behalf ofthe end user 106.

In an alternative embodiment, the system 100 may not include the addressprovider 112, and the call handler 104 may obtain credit information foran incoming call based on the origination phone number itself. Forexample, the aggregated credit information database 122 may beconfigured to store credit information in association with a pluralityof phone numbers. In such cases, to maintain depersonalization, a givenphone number may be previously linked to a corresponding ZIP+4 code, orother generalized address information, and aggregated credit data forsaid generalized address information may be previously generated andstored in the database 122 in association with the phone number.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a process 300 for real-time scoringand routing of a phone lead based on aggregated credit data associatedwith an origination phone number of the caller, in accordance with oneor more embodiments. As an example, the process 300 may be carried outby the call handler 104, or any other entity that can score and routecalls placed by a caller to a business entity, using software stored ona computer readable medium and executing on one or more computerprocessors (not shown) associated with the call handler or other entity.The call handler may interact with one or more components of the system100 to carry out the operations of the process 300.

The process 300 may begin a step 302, where the call handler interceptsa call placed by a user (e.g., the caller 102) to a business entity(e.g., the end user 106) via a communications network (e.g., the network116). At step 304, the call handler obtains an origination phone numberassociated with the incoming call. As an example, the call handler mayuse an ANI service provided by the local exchange carrier, the wirelesscarrier, or another third-party entity to obtain the origination phonenumber.

At step 306, the call handler requests address information for theorigination phone number from an address information database (e.g., theaddress database 118). As an example, the call handler may send theorigination phone number to an entity (e.g., the address provider 112)that maintains the address information database. Said entity may comparethe phone number to information stored in the address informationdatabase to determine whether address information for the phone numberis present in the database. The result of this address lookup may besent back to the call handler. At step 308, the call handler determineswhether address information has been found for the origination phonenumber. If an address was not found in the address information database,the process 300 continues to step 310, where the call is routed to adefault unit (e.g., the default unit 108 d) of the business entity. Asan example, the default unit or line may be an automated or virtualreceptionist line, a general customer service line, a centralreceptionist, or any other group, individual, phone line, or otherentity that can serve as a default point of contact for the businessentity.

If the address lookup result includes address information for the phonenumber, the process 300 continues to step 312. In a preferredembodiment, the received address information includes a zip code, ZIP+4code, or other depersonalized or generalized address information. Atstep 312, the call handler determines a caller profile, or score, forthe incoming call based on credit information that is associated withthe address information received at step 308. More specifically, thecall handler may compare the received address information to a creditinformation database (e.g., the aggregated credit information database122), which stores aggregated credit information for a plurality ofindividuals and/or addresses. In embodiments, the credit information mayinclude aggregated credit data that is a combination of the individualcredit-related attributes for all individuals residing at, or associatedwith, a zip code, ZIP+4 code, or other micro-geography location.

The call handler may include the aggregated credit information databaseand a scoring engine (e.g., the scoring engine 124) for retrieving thecredit information associated with the received address information fromthe credit information database. Using the retrieved credit information,the call handler, or more specifically, the scoring engine, maydetermine a caller profile for the incoming call according to criteriaprovided by the business entity and/or the call handler 104. In somecases, the caller profile is a predetermined aggregated credit scoreincluded in the aggregated credit data. In some cases, the callerprofile is a customized score that is calculated and/or derived based onvarious attributes of the aggregated credit data and using a proprietaryformula provided by the business entity or the call handler. In othercases, the caller profile includes a pre-specified set of credit-relatedattributes that are included in the aggregated credit data.

At step 314, based on the caller profile determined at step 312, thecall handler 104 determines or identifies which of a plurality ofbusiness units (e.g., the plurality of units 108 a, 108 b, 108 c, and108 d) would be most appropriate for handling the incoming call. Thebusiness units may include marketing, business, or product groups,customer service agents or sales representatives, automated or virtualreceptionist lines, and the like. The call handler 104 may make thebusiness unit determination based on a model or a set of rules providedby the business entity and/or the call handler for triaging incomingcalls based on the caller profile for each call. As an example, therules may direct the call handler to route calls with certain aggregatedcredit scores, or marketing models built from the aggregated creditdata, to a specified business unit (e.g., calls with higher scores maybe directed to a preferred business unit, and so on). As anotherexample, the rules may direct the call handler to route calls withcertain attribute values to a specific business unit (e.g., calls with avalue of zero for both the overdue credit lines attribute and the latepayments attribute may be credited to a preferred customer line). Aswill be appreciated, the rules can be customized according to thebusiness needs of the business entity and/or the call handlingcapabilities of the call handler. At step 316, the call handler routesthe call to the business unit identified by the call handler as beingmost appropriate based on the caller profile associated with the call.Accordingly, using the process 300, incoming calls to a business entitycan be triaged, in real-time, by scoring and routing the calls based onaggregated credit data associated with the origination phone number ofeach call.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a computing device 400 housing executablesoftware used to facilitate the call scoring and routing system 100. Oneor more instances of the computing device 400 may be utilized toimplement any, some, or all of the components in the system 100, suchas, for example, the call handler 104 and/or the scoring engine 124.Computing device 400 includes the memory element 404. Memory element 404may include a computer readable medium for implementing the system 100,and/or components thereof, and for implementing particular systemtransactions. Memory element 404 may also be utilized to implement oneor more databases 406, such as, for example, the credit informationdatabase 122 and/or the address information database 118. Computingdevice 400 also contains executable software, some of which may or maynot be unique to the system 100.

In some embodiments, the system 100 is implemented in software, as anexecutable program, and is executed by one or more special or generalpurpose digital computer(s), such as a mainframe computer, a personalcomputer (desktop, laptop or otherwise), personal digital assistant, orother handheld computing device. Therefore, computing device 400 may berepresentative of any computer in which the system 100 resides orpartially resides.

Generally, in terms of the hardware architecture as shown in FIG. 4,computing device 400 includes the processor 402, the memory 404, and oneor more input and/or output (I/O) devices 408 (or peripherals) that arecommunicatively coupled via a local interface 410. Local interface 410may be one or more buses or other wired or wireless connections, as isknown in the art. Local interface 410 may have additional elements,which are omitted for simplicity, such as controllers, buffers (caches),drivers, transmitters, and receivers to facilitate externalcommunications with other like or dissimilar computing devices. Further,local interface 410 may include address, control, and/or dataconnections to enable internal communications among the other computercomponents.

Processor 402 is a hardware device for executing software, particularlysoftware stored in the memory 404. Processor 402 can be any custom madeor commercially available processor, such as, for example, a Core seriesor vPro processor made by Intel Corporation, or a Phenom, Athlon orSempron processor made by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. In the case wherecomputing device 400 is a server, the processor may be, for example, aXeon or Itanium processor from Intel, or an Opteron-series processorfrom Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Processor 402 may also representmultiple parallel or distributed processors working in unison.

Memory 404 can include any one or a combination of volatile memoryelements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM,etc.)) and nonvolatile memory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, flashdrive, CDROM, etc.). It may incorporate electronic, magnetic, optical,and/or other types of storage media. Memory 404 can have a distributedarchitecture where various components are situated remote from oneanother, but are still accessed by processor 402. These other componentsmay reside on devices located elsewhere on a network or in a cloudarrangement.

The software in memory 404 may include one or more separate programs.The separate programs comprise ordered listings of executableinstructions for implementing logical functions. In the example of FIG.4, the software in memory 404 may include the system 100, the process200, and/or the process 300, in whole or in part, in accordance with thepresent disclosure, and a suitable operating system (O/S) 412. Examplesof suitable commercially available operating systems 412 are Windowsoperating systems available from Microsoft Corporation, Mac OS Xavailable from Apple Computer, Inc., a Unix operating system from AT&T,or a Unix-derivative such as BSD or Linux. The operating system 412 willdepend on the type of computing device 400. For example, if thecomputing device 400 is a PDA or handheld computer, the operating system412 may be iOS for operating certain devices from Apple Computer, Inc.,PalmOS for devices from Palm Computing, Inc., Windows Phone 8 fromMicrosoft Corporation, Android from Google, Inc., or Symbian from NokiaCorporation. Operating system 412 essentially controls the execution ofother computer programs, such as the system 100, and providesscheduling, input-output control, file and data management, memorymanagement, and communication control and related services.

If computing device 400 is an IBM PC compatible computer or the like,the software in memory 404 may further include a basic input outputsystem (BIOS). The BIOS is a set of essential software routines thatinitialize and test hardware at startup, start operating system 412, andsupport the transfer of data among the hardware devices. The BIOS isstored in ROM so that the BIOS can be executed when computing device 400is activated.

Steps and/or elements, and/or portions thereof of the invention may beimplemented using a source program, executable program (object code),script, or any other entity comprising a set of instructions to beperformed. Furthermore, the software embodying the invention can bewritten as (a) an object oriented programming language, which hasclasses of data and methods, or (b) a procedural programming language,which has routines, subroutines, and/or functions, for example but notlimited to, C, C++, C #, Pascal, Basic, Fortran, Cobol, Perl, Java, Ada,Python, and Lua. Components of the system 100 may also be written in aproprietary language developed to interact with these known languages.

The I/O device 408 may interact, via the local interface 410, withinteractive hardware 414 comprising one or more input devices 416, suchas a keyboard, a mouse, a scanner, a microphone, a touch screen, a barcode reader, or an infra-red reader. The interactive hardware 414 mayalso include output devices such as a display 418, a printer, an audiospeaker, a headphone port, or a projector. The interactive hardware 414may also comprise devices that communicate with the inputs or outputs,such as a communications module 420 comprising one or more of ashort-range transceiver (RFID, Bluetooth, etc.), a telephonic interface,a cellular communication port, a router, or other types of networkcommunication equipment. The interactive hardware 414 may be internal tocomputing device 400, or may be external and connected wirelessly or viaconnection cable, such as through a universal serial bus port.

When computing device 400 is in operation, processor 402 is configuredto execute software stored within memory 404, to communicate data to andfrom memory 404, and to generally control operations of computing device400 pursuant to the software. The system 100, the process 200, and/orthe process 300, and operating system 412, in whole or in part, may beread by processor 402, buffered within processor 402, and then executed.

In the context of this document, a “computer-readable medium” may be anymeans that can store, communicate, propagate, or transport data objectsfor use by or in connection with the system 100. The computer readablemedium may be for example, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device,propagation medium, or any other device with similar functionality. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readablemedium would include the following: an electrical connection(electronic) having one or more wires, a random access memory (RAM)(electronic), a read-only memory (ROM) (electronic), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM, EEPROM, or Flash memory)(electronic), an optical fiber (optical), and a portable compact discread-only memory (CDROM) (optical). Note that the computer-readablemedium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which theprogram is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via,for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, thencompiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in a suitable manner ifnecessary, and stored in a computer memory. Portions of the system 100,the process 200, and/or the process 300 can be embodied in any type ofcomputer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system or apparatus, such as a computer.

Referring back to FIG. 1, in some embodiments, the call handler 104and/or the address provider 112, in whole or in part, can be implementedas computer software modules stored in a memory and operating on one ormore processors associated with the system 100 or components thereof.For example, a call handling module (not shown) may be configured, usingcomputer software instructions stored in the memory 404 and executing onthe processor 402, to carry out the operations of the process 300 and/orportions of the process 200 (e.g., steps 204, 206, 212, 214, 216, 220,and/or 222). In such cases, the call handling module may include thescoring engine 124 and may be in communication with, or have access to,the credit-information database 122. Likewise, in some cases, an addressproviding module (not shown) may be configured to carry out one or moreof the operations included in the process 200 (e.g., the steps 208and/or 210) and other operations related to providing addressinformation for an incoming call. In such cases, the address providingmodule may include the matching engine 120 and may be in communicationwith, or have access to, the address information database 118.

For purposes of connecting to other computing devices, computing device400 is equipped with network communication equipment and circuitry. In apreferred embodiment, the network communication equipment includes anetwork card such as an Ethernet card, or a wireless connection card. Ina preferred network environment, each of the plurality of computingdevices 400 on the network is configured to use the Internet protocolsuite (TCP/IP) to communicate with one another. It will be understood,however, that a variety of network protocols could also be employed,such as IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi, address resolution protocol ARP,spanning-tree protocol STP, or fiber-distributed data interface FDDI. Itwill also be understood that while a preferred embodiment of theinvention is for each computing device 400 to have a broadband orwireless connection to the Internet (such as DSL, Cable, Wireless, T-1,T-3, OC3 or satellite, etc.), the principles of the invention are alsopracticable with a dialup connection through a standard modem or otherconnection means. Wireless network connections are also contemplated,such as wireless Ethernet, satellite, infrared, radio frequency,Bluetooth, near field communication, and cellular networks.

Any process descriptions or blocks in figures should be understood asrepresenting modules, segments, or portions of code which include one ormore executable instructions for implementing specific logical functionsor steps in the process, and alternate implementations are includedwithin the scope of the embodiments of the invention in which functionsmay be executed out of order from that shown or discussed, includingsubstantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on thefunctionality involved, as would be understood by those having ordinaryskill in the art.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of theinvention, particularly, any “preferred” embodiments, are possibleexamples of implementations, merely set forth for a clear understandingof the principles of the invention. Many variations and modificationsmay be made to the above-described embodiment(s) of the inventionwithout substantially departing from the spirit and principles of theinvention. All such modifications are intended to be included hereinwithin the scope of this disclosure and the invention and protected bythe following claims.

1. A system for handling a telecommunications session in real-time, thetelecommunications session being initiated by a calling device andintended for a receiving network, the system comprising: a memory; aprocessor in communication with the memory and a communication networkassociated with the telecommunications session; and a module stored onthe memory and comprising computer software instructions executable bythe processor, the module configured to, receive the telecommunicationssession, obtain address information associated with the calling devicefrom one or more databases, determine a credit-related score for thetelecommunications session based on the address information andaggregated credit data associated with the address information, identifyan appropriate unit of the receiving network based on the credit-relatedscore, and route the telecommunications session to the appropriate unit.2. (canceled)
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the aggregated creditdata is a depersonalized aggregation of a plurality of individualcredit-related attributes associated with the address information. 4.The system of claim 1, wherein the address information is a ZIP+4 code.5. The system of claim 4, wherein the aggregated credit data isretrieved from a credit information database configured to store, foreach of a plurality of ZIP+4 codes, credit-related data aggregatedaccording to the ZIP+4 code.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein theaddress information is obtained based on an NPA-NXX of an originationphone number associated with the calling device.
 7. The system of claim6, wherein the module is further configured to obtain the originationphone number associated with the calling device from an automatic numberidentification service.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the addressinformation is received from an address information database configuredto store address information for each of a plurality of phone numbers,the plurality of phone numbers including the origination phone numberassociated with the calling device.
 9. The system of claim 1, whereinthe receiving network includes a plurality of units, and each unit isassigned to a different range of credit-related scores, the appropriateunit being identified by comparing the assigned range to thecredit-related score for the telecommunications session.
 10. Acomputer-implemented method for handling an incoming call, in real-time,the call being placed by a caller to an end user, the method comprising:receiving the incoming call; obtaining, from an address informationdatabase, address information associated with an origination phonenumber for the incoming call; retrieving, from a credit informationdatabase, aggregated credit data that is associated with the addressinformation; determining a caller profile for the incoming call based onthe aggregated credit data; identifying an appropriate call-answeringunit of the end user based on the caller profile; and routing theincoming call to the appropriate call-answering unit.
 11. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the aggregated creditdata is a depersonalized aggregation of a plurality of individualcredit-related attributes associated with the address information forthe origination phone number.
 12. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 10, wherein the address information is a ZIP+4 code.
 13. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising obtainingthe origination phone number for the incoming call using an automaticnumber identification service.
 14. A system for handling, in real-time,an incoming call placed by a caller to an end user, the systemcomprising: at least one memory; at least one processor in communicationwith the at least one memory; a call handling module stored on the atleast one memory and comprising computer software instructionsexecutable by the processor, the call handling module configured toreceive the incoming call and determine an aggregated credit score forthe incoming call that qualifies the call for at least one of aplurality of call-answering units associated with the end user; and anaddress providing module stored on the at least one memory andcomprising computer software instructions executable by the processor,the address providing module configured to obtain address informationthat is associated with an origination phone number of the incomingcall, wherein the call handling module is further configured to:determine the aggregated credit score based on the address informationobtained by the address providing module and aggregated credit dataassociated with said address information, and based on said score, routethe incoming call to the at least one of the plurality of call-answeringunits.
 15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a creditinformation database in communication with the at least one processorand configured to store aggregated credit data associated with theaddress information.
 16. The system of claim 14, wherein the aggregatedcredit data is a depersonalized aggregation of a plurality of individualcredit-related attributes associated with the address information forthe origination phone number.
 17. The system of claim 14, wherein theaddress information is a ZIP+4 code.
 18. The system of claim 14, furthercomprising an address information database in communication with the atleast one processor and configured to store address information for eachof a plurality of phone numbers, the plurality of phone numbersincluding the origination phone number of the incoming call, wherein theaddress providing module is further configured to retrieve theassociated address information from the address information database.19. The system of claim 14, wherein the call handling module is furtherconfigured to obtain the origination phone number for the incoming callusing an automatic number identification service.
 20. The system ofclaim 19, wherein the call handling module is further configured torequest the address information from the address providing module uponobtaining the origination phone number.
 21. The system of claim 14,wherein each of the plurality of call-answering units is assigned adifferent range of aggregated credit scores, and the incoming callqualifies for the at least one of the plurality of call-answering unitsif the aggregated credit score for the incoming call falls within thecorresponding range.